Driven coiled ground

ABSTRACT

An electrically conductive strip-shaped metallic member or wire is wound into a coiled ground main body having an engaging member fixed to the outer end thereof so that the axis of the engaging member may be aligned with the direction in which the coiled main body is uncoiled. The engaging member is engaged with a ground driving rod so that when the driving rod is driven into the soil, the coiled ground main body is gradually uncoiled and driven straightly into the soil to a desired depth. Thereafter, the driving rod is pulled out of the soil, but the ground main body remains extended straight in intimate contact with the surrounding earth. The coiled ground may be fabricated in a simple manner; the ground driving operation is much facilitated; and the intimate contact of the driven ground with the surrounding earth may be ensured.

Unite States Patent Hikoltsu Wetanabe No. 5-13, l-chome, Ehara-cho;

Sanil Genma, No. 4-8, l-chome, Ehara-cho, both of Naknno-ku, Tokyo,Japan [72] Inventors [2 1] App]. No. 16,079

[22] Filed Mar. 3, 1970 [45] Patented Dec. 21, 1971 [32] Priority Apr.8, 1969 [33} Japan [54] DRIVEN COILED GROUND 6 Claims, 12 Drawing Figs.

Primary Examiner- Laramie E. Askin Attorney-Saul .Iecies ABSTRACT: Anelectrically conductive strip-shaped metallic member or wire is woundinto a coiled ground main body having an engaging member fixed to theouter end thereof so that the axis of the engaging member may be alignedwith the direction in which the coiled main body is uncoiled. Theengaging member is engaged with a ground driving rod so that when thedriving-rod is driven into the soil, the coiled ground main body isgradually uncoiled and driven straightly into the soil to a desireddepth. Thereafter, the driving rod is pulled out of the soil, but theground main body remains extended straight in intimate contact with thesurrounding earth. The coiled ground may be fabricated in a simplemanner; the ground driving operation is much facilitated; and theintimate contact of the driven ground with the surrounding earth may beensured.

PATENTED BEEZI i971 SHEET 1 [IF 3 INVENTOR Hikoitsu wacana be and SanjiGenma %61}? Their Attorney ATTORNEY PATENTED new I97! 3.629.485

' SHEET 2 BF 3 INVENTOR i oitsu Watanabe and j 1' Genma Their ATTORNEYPATENTED DEC21 I97! 3,629,485

SHEET 3 OF 3 INVENTOR Hikoitsg Watanabe and Sanj i Genma Their ATTORNEYDRIVEN COILED GROUND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present inventionrelates to a driven ground or earth best suited for safeguarding variouselectrical machinery and equipment and for preventing the corrosion ofunderground steel pipes and the like.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO THE RELATED APPLICATION The present invention is animprovement of a conical helical driven ground disclosed in theapplication Ser. No. 816,341, filed on Apr. 15, 1969 (now Pat. No.3,548,069) by the same applicant, to be referred to as the motherinvention" hereinafter.

The mother invention relates to a conical helical ground in which alength of electrically conductive strip-shaped member or wire is woundinto a conical helical form or coiled, thereby forming a ground mainbody. An engaging member is fixed to the inner end of the conicalhelical ground or coiled ground. The leading end of the driving rod isconnected to the engaging member so that when the driving rod is driveninto the soil, the conical helical or coiled ground main body isgradually extended and driven into the soil. After the ground has beenset at a desired depth, the driving rod is pulled out of the soil. Theground remains in the soil in the form of conical helical form.

When the ground of the mother invention is driven into the soil, themain body is gradually extended in the axial direction thereof whileretaining its conical helical form, so that the ground main body istwisted. Thus, the impact applied to the driving rod for driving it intothe soil is resolved into the force for extending the ground into aconical helical form while twisting the ground main body and the forcefor driving the ground into the soil. Therefore it is seen that aconsiderable force is required in the driving operation. Furthermore,the deeper the ground is driven, the more force is required forextending the ground while retaining its conical helical form, so thatthe diameter of each coil is gradually reduced and the ground may befirmly wound around the driving rod. Thus, it is very difficult to pullout the driving rod after the ground has been driven to a desired depth.Moreover, there is a defect that the inductance may be induced becausethe ground is set in the conical helical form so that in some cases thedesired grounding system is not attained.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above the primary object of thepresent invention is to provide an improved driven ground which caneliminate the defects described hereinabove.

To this end, a length of electrically conductive strip-shaped metallicmember or wire is wound into a coil, thereby forming the coiled groundmain body and a cylindrical engaging member is fixed to the outer end ofthe coiled ground main body in such a manner that the axis of thecylindrical engaging member may be aligned with the direction in whichthe coiled ground main body is uncoiled. The ground is driven into thesoil by the driving rod which is connected to the engaging member sothat the coiled ground main body is gradually uncoiled straight from theouter end thereof and extended in the soil. Therefore, the ground is notsubjected to the torsion when driven into the soil and is not woundaround the driving rod, so that the less force is required to drive theground and the driving operation can becarried out very effectively. Thedriving rod may be easily pulled out of the soil and the ground remainsextended straight in the soil so that there will be induced noinductance.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent from the following description ofsome illustrative embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is a front view of a firstembodiment of the present invention;

2 is a top view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a front view ofa second embodiment of the present DESCRIPTIONOF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIGS. I and 2, the first embodiment ofdriven coiled ground 20 is illustrated. The coiled ground 20 comprises aground main body 22 consisting of a length of strip-shaped member whichis wound into a coil, a lead wire 24 fixed to the inner end of the mainbody 22 and an engaging member 26 fixed to the outer end of the mainbody 22.

The main body 22 is made of a length of strip-shaped electrically goodconductive metallic material having a suitable thickness and width. Themetallic member is coiled as shown and has an uncoiled portion 28 formedat the outer end. The lead wire 24 is fixed by a suitable manner such asbrazing to the inner end of the main body 22 in order to flow thecurrent thereto. The engaging member 26 is in the form of a cylinder andfixed by a suitable manner such as brazing to the outer end of theuncoiled portion 28 the main body 22 in such a manner that the axis ofthe cylindrical engaging member 26 may be aligned with the direction ofuncoiling of the ground main body 22. Preferably the engaging member 26is made of an electrically conductive material having as highestconductivity as possible.

The second embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is different from the firstembodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in that the ground main body 220 ismade of an electrically conductive wire which is coiled as shown. As inthe case of the first embodiment, the lead wire 24a is fixed to theinner end of the main body 22a while the engaging member 260 is fixed tothe outer end of the uncoiled portion 28a of the main body 220 in such amanner that the axis of the engaging member 26a may be aligned with thedirection of uncoiling of the main body 22a.

In the third embodiment 20b illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 and the fourthembodiment 20c illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, the main bodies 22b and 220are substantially similar to those 22 or 22a in the first or secondembodiment and the lead wires 24b and 24c are fixed to the inner ends ofthe main bodies 22b and 220 respectively in the same manner as describedhereinabove. In the third embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, twomain bodies 22b are fixed to a common engaging member 26b at both sidesthereof through the uncoiled portions 28b in the same manner asdescribed hereinabove. In the fourth embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 7and 8, four main bodies 220 are equiangularly fixed to a common engagingmember 26c through the uncoiled portions 28c in the same manner asdescribed hereinabove.

According to the present invention, only one or a plurality of mainbodies may be fixed to one engaging member as needs demand and each ofthe main bodies may be made of stripshaped material or wire having ashighest electrical conductivity as possible. FIG. 9 illustrates adriving rod 30 for driving the coiled grounds in accordance with thepresent invention into the soil. The driving rod 30 comprises rodportions 32, a driving head 34 fixed to the uppermost rod portion 32cand a smaller diameter portion 36 fixed to the lowermost rod portion 32aand adapted to be fitted into the engaging member of the coiled ground.It is noted that a shoulder or stepped portion 38 is formed between thesmaller diameter portion 36 and the lowermost rod portion 320.

The smaller diameter portion 36 has a leading portion 40 formed at thelower end in the form of an inverted cone. The rod portions 32 of thedriving rod 30 may be comprised of a single rod, but it is preferablethat the driving rod 30 may be comprised of a plurality of rod portionsas described hereinabove and as shown in FIG. 9 when the ground must bedriven into the soil at a considerable depth. That is, the rod portions32 may be comprised of rods 32a, 32b and 32c and the smaller diameterportion 36 is fixed to the lowermost rod 32a. Each of the rods 32a, 32band 32c may be provided with, for example, an internally threaded hole42 at the lower end and an externally threaded projection at the upperend, so that the rods 32a, 32b and 320 may be releasably connected toeach other by screwing the internally threaded hole of an upper rod overthe externally threaded projection of a lower rod. In driving, thedriving head 34 is first screwed to the lowermost rod 32a and after therod 321: has been driven into the soil, the driving head 34 is unscrewedtherefrom and the next rod 32b is screwed to the rod 32a and thereafterthe driving head 34 is screwed again to the rod 32b. By repeating theabove described operation, a desired number of rods may be driven intothe soil at a desired depth.

For driving the coiled ground in accordance with the present invention,first a hole is dug to a suitable depth. At the bottom of the hole isplaced the coiled ground and the smaller diameter portion 36 of thedriving rod 30 is fitted into the engaging member 2626c. The impact isapplied to the driving head 34 so that the rod 30 may be driven into thesoil. in this case, the shoulder or stepped portion 38 of the drivingrod 30 is firmly pressed against the upper end of the engaging member26-26c so that when the driving rod 30 is driven into the soil, the mainbody 22-220 is gradually uncoiled and driven into the soil straightly.When the coiled grounds 20c are driven into the soil at desired depthsas shown in FlGS. 10, 11 and 12, the driving rod 30 is pulled out of thesoil so that the main body 2222c may remain extended straightly at adesired depth in intimate contact with the soil. When four or Therefore,the aqueous solution of an earth treating agent may be poured into thehole left after driving rod is pulled out of the soil, thereby treatingthe earth surrounding the ground main bodies 22c so as to reduce theground resistance.

The present invention has been so far described in particular referenceto the illustrative embodiments thereof, but it will be understood thatvariations and modifications can be effected without departing from thetrue spirit of the present invention as described hereinabove and asdefined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An electrical grounding apparatus comprising, in combination,

a coiled electrically conductive elongated member with one end of saidcoiled member at the axial center of the coil and the other end of saidcoiled member on the periphery of the coil;

a tubular member secured to said other end of said coiled member on theperiphery of said coil, the axis of said tubular member beingsubstantially along the direction of unwinding of said coil; and

said tubular member being adapted to receive a retrievable driving rodhaving a driving point passing freely through the interior of saidtubular member, said driving point including a shoulder for contactingan axial end of said tubular member for driving the latter into theground.

2. The apparatus as defined in claim 5 including a lead wire connectedto said one end of said coil member at the axial center of the coil.

3. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 including further coiledelectrically conductive elongated members secured to said tubularmember.

4. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said coiled membercomprises a strip-sha ed member.

5. The apparatus as define in claim 1 wherein said coiled membercomprises a wire-shaped member.

6. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the coiled turns of saidcoils are located substantially within the same plane.

1. An electrical grounding apparatus comprising, in combination, acoiled electrically conductive elongated member with one end of saidcoiled member at the axial center of the coil and the other end of saidcoiled member on the periphery of the coil; a tubular member secured tosaid other end of said coiled member on the periphery of said coil, theaxis of said tubular member being substantially along the direction ofunwinding of said coil; and said tubular member being adapted to receivea retrievable driving rod having a driving point passing freely throughthe interior of said tubular member, said driving point including ashoulder for contacting an axial end of said tubular member for drivingthe latter into the ground.
 2. The apparatus as defined in claim sincluding a lead wire connected to said one end of said coil member atthe axial center of the coil.
 3. The apparatus as defined in claim 1including further coiled electrically conductive elongated memberssecured to said tubular member.
 4. The apparatus as defined in claim 1wherein said coiled member comprises a strip-shaped member.
 5. Theapparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said coiled member comprises awire-shaped member.
 6. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein thecoiled turns of said coils are located substantially within the sameplane.